From Ronald Reagan and Bruce Springsteen to Donald Trump and Neil Young (and Tom Petty, and Elton John, and Adele, and Prince, and Aerosmith, and Guns N Roses, and REM, and Rihanna), Republican politicians have a long history of incorporating popular music into their campaign bids and being promptly ordered by the owner of said music to cease doing so. While some artists simply object to the use of their songs without proper licensing, many are diametrically opposed to being associated with what these conservative politicians stand for, and would rather die than have people think they subscribe to such ideas. In rare cases, a Democrat will hear from an unhappy musician, but by and large, the trend involves Republicans and their longtime inability to read the room. A trend that, not surprisingly, Georgia representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has gotten in on.
Following the interminable process of getting Kevin McCarthy elected as Speaker of the House, Greene posted a deeply cringeworthy video of her walking through the halls of Congress that was apparently meant to demonstrate her power and ability to get shit done. The backdrop of the clip, which includes her presumably taking a call from Trump, features Dr. Dre’s 1999 “Still D.R.E.” Or at least it did, until her people seemingly heard from his people.
“I don’t license my music to politicians, especially someone as divisive and hateful as this one,” Dre told TMZ of Greene, who has made a name for herself as one of the worst people in Congress in her two short years in Washington.
Anyway, Greene’s team will need to find new music to accompany her videos moving forward, and while something off of Green Day’s American Idiot would seem like the perfect accompaniment, she’d probably run into similar issues there too.
Bess Levin
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